The McLean County Board on Thursday approved an audit of the county’s 1% mental health and public safety sales tax fund. The resolution to the intergovernmental agreement [IGA] will require approval by the Town of Normal and City of Bloomington.
All members of the board voted in favor of the resolution, except District 4 representative and vice chair Jim Rogal. Members Eric Hansen, Mark Clauss and Buck Farley were absent.
County board chair Elizabeth Johnston said before the audit begins, the town and city must approve the language.
“Following that, then we would need to have discussions about what the scope of work would be, so that we could put out an [request for proposal] and then once we have the proposals consider who would be the best fit given the scope of work and then vote on that,” she said.
The resolution in its current language states an independent auditor would be hired, and the cost would be capped at $50,000, which would be paid out of the fund itself.
Since the county board’s executive committee sent the resolution to the full board, Bloomington Mayor Dan Brady and Normal City Manager Pam Reece have both doubled down on interest in suspending collection of sales tax that supports the fund for at least one year.
A resolution to suspend collection of the tax died in committee at the executive committee meeting on Monday.
Johnston said conversations surrounding the suspension will likely continue.
“Part of the IGA is that when there are material changes, and that’s part of what they were bringing up … to have discussion, but we also have bills that are coming due that are creating different material changes in sort of the scope of what this will be trying to accomplish,”she said.
“Not just projects like the Home Sweet Home and emergent needs in mental health, but lots of discussions surrounding IJIS [Integrated Justice Information System].”
Johnston said projects like updating IJIS are difficult to predict a price on.
District 4 board member Krystle Able spoke in opposition to claims made by Brady and Reece before the meeting adjourned. Able said the county regularly publishes public information about expenditures from the fund.
“Some of our colleagues at Normal and Bloomington, discussing the mental health and public safety fund, and they seem to not have any idea what that is actually funding,” she said. “So, I just wanted to remind everyone that we put out this intergovernmental report on the fund every year that explains what is being funded … we also have this community health needs assessment that comes out every couple years.”
Able said the documents give a detailed accounting of how the county is spending money on mental health and public safety, including funds not from the sales tax fund.
The Bridge
Also Thursday, the board finalized the contract for The Bridge, the non-congregant shelter village being constructed by Home Sweet Home Ministries; the project previously was approved with $1.3 million in funding.
“I believe that is the final action item that is required by the county board,” said county administrator Cassy Taylor. “Now the contract has been approved which outlines the scope of work and what the mental health and public safety fund will be paying for. So, now it is in Matt Burgess and Home Sweet Home’s hands.”
Work has already begun on the project. It is expected to open this winter.
In other business, the board:
— Formally recognized the resignation of District 3 representative Lyndsay Bloomfield. Johnston said interested applicants can submit a signed, written application to the county administrator’s office by noon on Aug. 4 to be interviewed by the executive committee. Applicants must reside in District 3 and be a Republican.
— Finalized a labor contract with Metcom, the emergency dispatch service serving the entire county except the City of Bloomington. Taylor said the three-year agreement covers three supervisors and a staff of 30 with competitive salaries in the field. It also clarified language in the agreement.
— Removed all language of “massage parlors” from the county’s code in reference to adult entertainment establishments. Taylor said the language was outdated and unnecessary, and was not in response to actions by the Bloomington City Council to address possible human trafficking.
— Approved an IGA with the Tri-Valley Community Unit School District 3 and the McLean County Sheriff to provide a school resource officer. The sheriff’s office will provide a full-time sheriff’s deputy to supervise day-to-day operational and administrative control. It will be the school district’s first resource officer.
